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Well deer season was a success, but being my first turkey up here I'm a bit concerned! Coming from Florida with huge WMA's , gotta love them osceolas... (30,000 acres n up) compared to here I'm not thrilled about not having my hard to get to spots like down south! Seems like u can walk clear across any wma up here in an hour ..... Soooo, how's the turkey Huntin on public land ? Probly goin to canadaway creek, zoar valley, or Carlton hill... Havnt seen a ton a sign , so I guess we'll just scout scout scout n wing it this year untl I get a feel for the pressure around here....

Public land can be good hunting. Ive killed more on public land than private. I notice alot of hunters are done by say 9am....which leaves those gobblers lonely until noon! Scout scout scout is my best advice

I'm all about doin my homework tee bug ... It's just I feel like I'm gonna be covered up in guys in the morning cause everything is so accessible unlike where I'm from where it takes a little doin to get way back to the spots where the lazy's are not gonna be !!! Thanks for the feedback !

I hunt right til noon. Shot a good gobbler a few years back at around 1150 lol i was packing up and not sure if my rustling around made him gobble but he let loose at 40 yards. I never knew he was there oops

Haha, I can't wait to hunt some easterns , them osceolas can bee a bitch sometimes! They hardly ever gobble past 8:30/9 ... Basically soft calling after that n feels like deer Huntin the rest a the morning...

I hunt right til noon. Shot a good gobbler a few years back at around 1150 lol i was packing up and not sure if my rustling around made him gobble but he let loose at 40 yards. I never knew he was there oops

+1 on hunting til' the closing bell. One of my longbeards last year was shot at 11:57.

I like to be there in late morning when the hens hopefully leave the tom to go nest.

I take public land birds nearly every year.

Good luck on these crafty ol' easterns this year.

You do and it’ll be the biggest mistake YOU ever made, you Texas brush-popper!--Rooster Cogburn

Most public lands are busy 1 week and week end then they seem to get quiet again. have driven few a few during the week and never see a car especially last few years. I really think the turkey hunters are down in number.the die hards still go but all the weekenders are absent as numbers have been down.

Ya I've heard good things about canadaway, was thinkin a goin there quite a bit ... Tried scoutin last week but I couldn't park in two spots cause of the snow n dam 2 wheel drive lol... Didn't see any tracks in the snow but they always seem to appear out a no where when season rolls around ... We'll get er done one way or the other...

Two approaches that have worked for me when hunting public land, for both turkeys and deer:

1) Park at an intersection of roads (or start at an intersection of trails), then walk away from the intersection on a route that bisects the angle the roads make at the intersection. The farther you walk...the farther you will get from each road...and the farther you will get from potential conflict with other hunters. (Or, in deer hunting, the better position you will be in to intercept deer moved by other hunters coming in off the roads/trails.) Use this approach to scout an unfamiliar area prior to the season.

2) Park in an unlikely place...somewhere where others are unlikely to park. Park at the base of a steep hill; one that requires a hard climb right out of your vehicle. Or park alongside a stream that is just deep enough to require hip boots to cross...Keep your hippers in your vehicle, and you can quickly get to where others, without boots, cannot. Climb that hill, or cross that stream, and you just might be in prime hunting territory and have it all to yourself.

Well deer season was a success, but being my first turkey up here I'm a bit concerned! Coming from Florida with huge WMA's , gotta love them osceolas... (30,000 acres n up) compared to here I'm not thrilled about not having my hard to get to spots like down south! Seems like u can walk clear across any wma up here in an hour ..... Soooo, how's the turkey Huntin on public land ? Probly goin to canadaway creek, zoar valley, or Carlton hill... Havnt seen a ton a sign , so I guess we'll just scout scout scout n wing it this year untl I get a feel for the pressure around here....

NY state has over 1 million acres of state forest and forest preserve with many tracts of land in the northern Catskills and Adirondacks going well over 100 thousand acres, much very under hunted. Get onto the NYS dec site and research their maps. It always amazes me how people say there's no place to hunt in NY state. I've had a hunter tell me last week there's no where to hunt and then found out he only lived 2 miles away from the Minnewaska State forest which is 10s of thousands of acres connecting to about another 50 thousand acres of state forest...

Ya I've heard good things about canadaway, was thinkin a goin there quite a bit ... Tried scoutin last week but I couldn't park in two spots cause of the snow n dam 2 wheel drive lol... Didn't see any tracks in the snow but they always seem to appear out a no where when season rolls around ... We'll get er done one way or the other...

I hunt not to far from Canadaway, I was just down yesterday to scout, saw 1 longbeard all alone, didn't gobble much and the snow is still almost 2 ft. deep in pockets. hard to find tracks as it was 24* and the snow was hard. i've scouted Canadaway a coulpe of times, never got there early enough in the morning to listen for where they might be roosted. I seems the land is long and narrow making easy access from several roads. G man is right though I believe it gets hit hard on opening weekend and after week 2 you could probably have much better luck midweek.

Scouted canadaway pretty hard today... Only founds 2 sets of tracks in two spots .... Lot a steep/thick terrain !!! We'll see what happens , probly hit Carlton hill the first week n then go to canadaway after things die down a little